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1. New technologies in support of creativity and innovation

2. Facilitating access to culture through new technologies

Young people in Spain have gone from representing a third of the population to being less than a fourth part of the population, with unemployment rate that doubled during the recent economic crises, while their qualification increased as university students numbers grow, as well as the importance of Information Technologies and Communication (ICT) and the Internet (Fumero, 2016).

However, there are still two main areas where digital divide is still in place in Spain: socioeconomic and generational. The first concerns the lack of access to the network and the second to the distance in digital skills that increasingly separates Western adolescents from their parents and educators.

New technologies in support of creativity and innovation

The traditional editorial, discographic and film industries have undergone a serious transformation in recent decades after the rise of digitalisation. Puwerty, for example, is a festival which began in 2017 and consists of a multidisciplinary project of the Casa Encendida with specific programming aimed at young people between 12 and 26 years old.

The name of the festival is a mixture of the words power and puberty. The idea is to include workshops on youth identity, a debate between young people working in the creative industries and live music. Moreover, in previous editions, one of the ramifications of the festival was the “Inbox" (Bandeja de Entrada) call for projects which seeks to promote and disseminate artistic creation among young people who innovate with their format. The selected project is granted with 500€ for production and staging in the next edition of the festival.

Facilitating access to culture through new technologies

The Digital Agenda for Spain (Agenda Digital para España) follows the guidelines of the Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe from 2015 to 2020 incorporating its objectives for the economic, social and digital culture development. It is a response to the need of extending the accessibility to ICT of Spaniards, raising awareness of copyright laws and to digitise the cultural heritage. This agenda contained 106 specific objectives derived from the six main axis in which the promotion of digital skills is highlighted. This strategy intends to promote investigation, development, and innovation in the emerging technologies and the formation of new ICT professionals and digital literacy and inclusion. In relation to these objectives, in 2015 the Smart Cities (Ciudades Inteligentes) plan funded with 188.35 M€ and the Plan of Impulse of Technologies of Language (Plan de Impulso de las Tecnologías del Lenguaje) with a budget of 89,142,000€ were approved.

Young Technology Appropriation And Communication

In Gijón more than 200 people, mostly 18 to 35 year olds, representatives of youth associations and youth councils meet to attend and conduct seminars and workshops at the Cabueñes Encounters (Los Encuentros de Cabueñes 2019). The main theme is the communication and the use that youth and organizations make of traditional media, social networks and ICT in general.